Variable control mechanism



April 27, 1937. c. WALKER 2,073,321

VARIABLE CONTROL MECHANISM I Filed Aug.- 24, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet l 34 u, i zal 34 30" 33 L2 H WWW April 27,- 1937. c. WALKER 2,073,321

VARIABLE CONTROL MECHANISM Filed Aug. 24, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORi- WWW Patented Apr. 27, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE VARIABLE CONTROL Mnoimmsu Charles Walker, Knoxville, Tenn.

s puai ie August 24, 1935, Serial No. was '2 Claims. (01. ll-125.5)

My invention consists in-new and useful improvements in a variable transmission mechanism particularly adapted for use in connection with the registering device of ali'quid dispensing pump .or the like, whereby the price per gallon, the total volume of liquid, and thetotal cost of the liquid dispensed, are indicated.

The primary object of my invention is to provide a on mechanism ofthis character whereby the rotary movement of a driving memher will be transmitted into a different rate of speed of a driven member, without'in any way affecting the speed of rotation of said driving member.

Another object of my invention is to provide a flanged on disc rotatable by a retractable pawl member, the degree of rotation of said disc being dependent upon the duration of its engagement by said pawl.

m A further object is to provide a pivoted pawl member, one arm of the latter being engageable by a variable contact surface for selectively controlling the extent of engagement of said pawl with said flanged disc.

g5 A still further object is to provide mechanism operable by the pawl member for positively arresting the rotation of said on disc.

With the above and other objects in view which will appear as the description proceeds, my inso vention resides in the novel features herein set forth, illustrated in the accompanying drawings and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

Referring to the drawings in which numerals of 88 like character designate similar parts throughout the several views,

- Fig. 1 is a view in front elevation, partly broken away, showinga liquid dispensing pump of the gasoline fllling'station type. r

40 Fig. 2 isasectional view taken on line 2 -2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic view of the disc and gearing of Fig. 2, looking from the right.

Fig. 4 is an'enlarged view in side elevation of 45 the on disc and operating mechanism.

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken on line 5-5 of Fig. 4.

Fig.6 is afraamentary view similarto Fig. 4, showing the control member of the ion 50 in a different position. a

l 'lg.'lis afragmentaryviewsimilartoFig. 6, but showing the stop means for thetransmission -l ig.8isasectionalviewtakenonlinel-4 of 55 Pig. '1.

- respectively.

Fig.9 is an enlarged view similar to Fig.7 but showing the stop mechanism in inoperative positlon.

Fig. 10 is a similar view showing the stop mechanism in operative position. 5

Fig. 11 is an enlarged detail section of one of the registering dials, and V Fig. 12 is a modified view of stop means for'the transmission mechanism.

out through discharge pipe II. From this pipe II, the gasoline is conducted through pipe ll, pipe l4 into sight gauge, from whence it is discharged through the hose I 5 and out through the nozzle ll. As shown in l, the nozzle I1 is provided with the conventional valve l6 actuated by valve handle or lever II, the latter being protected by a guard member adapted to cooperate with a hook I! pivotally mounted on the side wall 5 of the casing I, for holding the nozzle and hose in position when not in use.

The meter 9 is provided with suitable mechanism, the specific structure of which forms no part of my invention, whereby the e of fluid therethrough rotates a vertical shaft, the extent of rotation of the latter being commensurate with the volume of fluid being pumped. The outer end of this vertical shaft. carries a pinion 2| adapted to mesh with a second pinion 2i keyed I to the lower end of a vertical shaft 22 suitably supported in bearings on a bracket nmmounted in the casing i, as clearly shown in Fig. 2. The upper end of the shaft 2 2 carries a bevel gear 23 adapted to mesh with a second bevel gear 24 on a longitudinally extending shaft 31, mounted in bearings 38 and 39 in the side walls of the casing. Adjacent the bevel gear 24, the shaft 31 carries a gear 25 adapted to mesh with an intermediate gear 26 mounted on a short shaft carried by the bracket 2211', said intermediate gear meshing with gear 21, freely mounted on a hollow shaft 38 adjacent the volume register dials 25L Gears 28 and 2! are also freely rotatable on shaft 3! .and are operatively connected to the total cost register dials I and the price setting dials Ill,

3| designates a gear carried by the hub portion-of a flanged on disc 4. freely rotatableonshaftllandadaptedtomeshwithfi intermediate gear 33 mounted on a second short shaft carried by bracket 220, said intermediate gear 39 meshing with gear 23 of the cost dials 2. As shown in Figs. 4 and 5, the inner periphery of the flange of disc 43 is provided with a series of internal teeth 33 engageable by one end 43 of a pawl member pivotally moimtedon a transverse pin 43 on a co-axial disc 41 which is keyed to shaft 31. in engagement with the teeth 33 by means of a spring 32 also secured to the disc 41 as at 33. The other end 3i of the pawl member terminates in a pin or projection 3: (Fig. 6) for the pu p se hereinafter set forth.

Adjacent the keyed disc 41 and co-axial therewith is a stationary circular plate 43 supported by bracket 34 on the casing i, the periphery of said plate being provided with a channel groove 43 which terminates in a spiral portion gradually receding axially from the periphery of said plate. 63 designates a linked flexible chain slidable within the groove and capable of completely encircling the periphery of the plate 43 to form a contact surface for the pin lid on the end 5| of the pawl member. to rock the pawl end 49 thereof out of engagement with the teeth 39 on the inner periphery of the flanged disc 43.

It will thus be seen that when the chain completely encircles the periphery of the plate 43, the end 49 of the pawl will remain out of engagement with the teeth 33, so that when the motor 2 is started, the disc 41 and carried pawl will "rotate with the shaft 31 withoutrotating disc 40. However, by retracting the chain in the groove, the distance between the point of emer-- gence and the outer end ll of said chain may be regulated to control the extent of engagement of said pawl with the teeth on disc 43 to rotate the latter.

The outer end ll of chain 33 is connected to an arm 43 (Figs. 4 and 5) by means of a transverse pin 44, the arm 43 being keyed to a hub 42 of gear 33 freely rotatable on shaft 31, and coaxial with the arm 43 and plate 43. Gear 33 meshes with a pinion gear 34 carried by the shaft of a gear 33, which latter gear meshes with gear 29 of the price setting dials 23l, as clearly shown in Figs. 2 and 3. The price setting dial is regulated by a gear 32 operated by handle H, and simultaneously with the setting of this dial, the chain 33 is either retracted within the spiral groove in plate 43, or protracted, to regulate the extent of engagement of the pawl 49 with the teeth on the flanged disc 43.

In order to prevent overrunning of the flanged disc 40, I provide a stop mechanism (Figs. 7, 8,

v flanged disc 40, the other end of said plunger being enlarged to provide an abutment face 33a for engagement by the projecting end 3l a of the pawl member. The plunger 33 is normally forced out of engagement with the teeth 33 by means of a coil spring 39 suitably retained in a spring chamber formed within a housing 31 carried by the plate member 33, whereby when the pawl 49.is in engaging position with the teeth 33, the stop pin 33 will be forced inwardly by the spring 33 out of engagement with said teeth. However, immediately upon the disengagement of the pawl 49. its other end 3: will be interposed between The pawl end 43 is normally held the abutment 33a of stop pin 33, and the periphery of the chain, to momentarily force the stop pin 33 outwardly against the teeth 33 to arrest the rotation of the disc.

The stop mechanism illustrated in Fig. 12 comprises an electro-magnet 34 having an armature 33 carried at one end of a lever pivotally mounted at 32, said armature being normally held out of engagement with the magnet by means of a spring 331 33 represents a friction brake connected to the other end of the lever at 3i and adapted to frictionally engage the outer edge of the flange on disc 40. Any suitable electric circuit (not shown) may be connected to the end 3! of the pawl and the end II of the chain 33, whereby when said members contact, the electromagnet will be energized to rock the armature 33 and force the brake 33 into frictional engage.- ment with the flange on the disc 40 to stop the latter.

As shown in Fig. 11, the hollow shaft 33 is adapted to receive a longitudinally extending rod 32, one end of which projects outwardly through one wall of the casing I in abutting engagement with the hook l9 (Fig. 1), its inner end cooperating with a spring 34 to normally force said rod outwardly. Adjacent the total cost register 2, the rod carries a transverse pin 33 lying in longitudinal slots SI and cooperating with a circular channel 53 provided in the annular face of a spur gear 39 freely rotatable on shaft 33.

When the nozzle I1 is in place on the hook II, the rod 32 is forced inwardly against the spring 34, and the spur gear 39 occupies the position shown in Fig. 11, lying completely within the confines of an annular recess in the gear 23 and meshing with a series of internal teeth provided within said recess. Upon the removal of the nozzle from the hook l9, spring 64 moves the rod 32 toward the left, permitting spur gear 39 to be moved with it through the medium of the pin 63, to slip into the internal teeth 31 provided in the annular recess of the adjacent dial on the cost register 2.

The depth of the recess in the dial of the reg-- ister 24 l is less than the transverse width of the spur gear 39, whereby the latter will be meshing with the teeth 31 simultaneously with the teeth 33 in the gear 23. However, the depth of the recess in the gear 23 is at least equal to the transverse width of the spur gear 39, a) that when the nozzle is in place on the hook l9,'and the rod is forced to its extreme position to the right, the spur 39 will only be in engagement with the teeth 33, thereby permitting the dials of register 24l to be returned to normal zero position by means'of the spring 33.

The construction of the volume register 23i is similar in all respects to register 2 just described, and a detail explanation of the former is bell ved unnecessary.

Having thus described theconstruction of my improved device,- its operation is as follows:

Assuming that the price of gasoline is 18.7 per gallon but that the dials 25!, 2 and 23l all register zero, the chain 33 in this instance will completely encircle the plate disc 43, thus holding the pawl 49 out of engagement with the teeth 33 on the flanged disc 43? The handle H is turned in a clockwise direction until the price dials "I register 18.7. Simultaneously with the setting of this price dial, the flexible chain 33 will be re acted in the spiral groove 43 a predetermined extent, through the medium of the arm 43 on hub 42 and the latch 73 is to engage a tooth 50 on the flange to rotate the latter. Upon reaching the outer end It-of the chain 85, the projecting end .510

spur gears 59 meshing with the teeth 56, to also engage the teeth. 51 on the register dials 2H and 25!. The motor is started to operate the pumping mechanism, and through the medium of the vertical shaft '22 and bevel gears 23 and 24, the shaft 31 together with its keyed disc 41 are rotated in a counterclockwise-direction (Figs. 4, 5 and 6). The pivoted pawl member carried by the disc 41 will rotate with the latter, causing its projecting end Bid to fall onto the periphery of the plate disc 45 and permitting its othe end 40 of the pawl will be lifted onto the chain to rock the pawl end liiout of engagement with the teeth 50. Simultaneously with this rocking of the pawl member, its end ila: will be interposed between the stop pin 68 and the end H of the chain to momentarily force said pin into braking engagement with a tooth 50 on the flanged disc 40, to prevent further rotation of said disc.

As the disc 41 continues to rotate with the shaft 31, the arm ii of the pawl will again clear the stop pin 68 and continue to ride on the chain 65 until it reaches the .point of emergence of the chain, when it is again forced down onto the periphery of the, plate disc 45 by the spring 52, to cause pawl 49 to again engage a tooth 50 on the disc 40 to rotate the latter.

The volume register 25! will rotate with the shaft 31 through the medium of the gears 25, 26 and 21, and the cost register 24! will be rotated with the flanged disc 40 by means of the gears 3|, 30 and 28.

The above operation is repeated until the total volume of gasoline desired has been dispensed, when the motor is stopped and the nozzle IT is placed on the hookl9, forcing the rod 62 inwardly and permitting the registers iii and 2 to return to their normal zero position by means.

i be readily understood by those skilled .in the art without further description, it being home in mind that numerous changes may be made in the details disclosed without departing from the spirit of my invention as set out in the following claims. I

- What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:-

l. A'variable control mechanism comprising a rotary shaft, means for driving said shaft, a disc keyed to said shaft and rotatable therewith, a flanged transmission disc immediately adjacent internal notches in said flange, a pivoted pawl carried by said rotatable disc, spring means normally tending to force one end of said pawl into engagement with said notches, a flxed circular plate co-axial with said discs and provided with a peripheral groove which terminates in a spiral portion which recedes from said periphery, a flexible band slidable in said'groove and capable of completely encircling the periphery of said plate to form a contact surface from the other end of said pawl, and means for selectively positioning said flexible band to vary the extent of surface contact for said pawl..

2. A variable control mechanism comprising a rotary shaft, means for driving said shaft, a disc keyed to said shaft and rotatable therewith, a flanged transmission disc immediately adjacent said rotatable disc and freely rotatable on said shaft, with its flange overlying the periphery of said rotatable disc, a predetermined number of internal notches in said flange, a pivoted pawl carried by said rotatable disc, means normally tending to force one end of said pawl into engagement with said notches, a'flxed circular plate co-axial with said discs, a retractable band capablev of completely encircling the periphery of said plate to form a variable contact surface for the other end of said pawl, and means for selectively retracting said band.

' 3. A variable control mechanism comprising a rotary shaft, means for driving said shaft, a disc keyed to said shaft and rotatable therewith, a

flanged transmission disc immediately adjacent I internal notches in said flange, a pivoted pawl carried by said rotatable disc, spring means nor.- mally tending to force one end of said pawl into engagement with said notches, a fixed circular plate co-axial with said discs and provided with a peripheral groove which terminates in a spiral portion which recedes from said periphery, a flexible band slidable in said groove and capable of completely encircling the periphery of said plate to form a contact surface for the other end of said pawl, means for selectively positioning said flexible band to vary the extent of surface contact for said pawl, and means actuated by said pawl for positively arresting the, rotation of said transmission disc upon its release from said rotatable disc.

4. A variable control mechanism comprising a rotary shaft, means for driving said shaft, a

disc keyed to said shaft and rotatable therewith, a flanged transmission disc immediately adjacent said rotatable disc and freely rotatable on said shaft, with its flange overlying the periphery of said rotatable disc, a predetermined number of internal notches in said flange, a pivoted pawl carried by said rotatable disc, spring means normally tending to force one end of saidpawl into engagement with said notches, a flxed circular plate co-axial with said discs and provided with a peripheral groove which terminates in a spiral portion which recedes from said periphery, a flexible band slidable in said groove and capable of completely encircling the periphery of said plate to form a contact surface for the other end of said pawl, a rotary arm co-axial with said discs and connected to one end of said band, and means for rotating said am to selectively vary the contact surface forsaid pawl.

5. A variable control mechanism comprising a rotary shaft, means for driving said shaft. a disc keyed to said shaft and rotatable therewith,

- a flanged transmission disc immediately adjacent said rotatable disc and freely rotatable on said shaft, with its flange overlying the periphery of said rotatable disc, a predetermined number of internal notches in said flange, a pivoted pawl carried by said rotatable disc, spring means normaliy tending to force one end of said pawl into engagement with said notches, a flxed circular plate co-axial with said discs and provided with a peripheral groove which terminates in a spiral portion which recedes from said periphery. a flexible band slidabie in said groove and capable of completely encircling the periphery of said plate to form a contact surface for the other end of said pawl, a rotary arm co-axial with said discs and connected to one end of said band, and means whereby the rotation of said arm in one direction retracts said band in said spiral groove and rotation in the other direction ps'otracts the amen same, for varying the pawl M surface of said band.

6.Apparatusasclaimedinclaim6including means actuated by said pawl for positively arresting the rotation of said transmission dhc upon its release from said rotatable disc.

7. A variable control mechanism comprisim a. rotary shaft, means for driving said shaft, a disc keyed to said shaft and rotatable therewith.

a transmission disc immediately adjacent said 10 rotatable disc and freely rotatable on said shaft. a fixed circular plate oo-axial with said discs. clutch means on said rotatable disc, interposed between said fixed plate and said transmission disc for operating the latter, a retractable band capable of completely encircling the periphery of said flxed plate, to control the engagement of said clutch means with said transmission disc, and means for selectively retracting said band to vary the extent of engagement of sail clutch 20 CHARLES WALKER. 

